I put this review up on my personal blog, but I wanted to share it here. I love this book. Every magician should read it - not just because Steve Martin was into magic, but because of the detail in which he describes becoming an original performer...

Get this book. It’s one of the best show biz biographies I have ever read. Definitely the best one that ever mentioned Dariel Fitzke’s Showmanship for Magicians. Actor/comedian/writer/art collector/banjo picker/magician Steve Martin details his journey from aspiring young magician to the biggest comedian of all time (he was the first comedian to sell out 45,000 seat venues).

It’s an amazing story with details that fellow magicians can appreciate. He includes show notes from when he was a young man describing presentation of the Square Circle and the Hippity Hop Rabbits. Think about that one for a moment; one of the greatest movie stars of all time got his start doing Hippity Hop Rabbits. He talks about making the leap from behind the magic counter at Disneyland to the stage of nearby Knott’s Berry Farm.

You’ll find out that his overnight success took ten years and only then happened when he decided to go his own path. Despite the frequent bookings on the Tonight Show, fame and headliner status eluded him for a long time. He’d been demoted to performing only on guest host nights for a long period because Johnny wasn’t in to his act. When he slowly found his way, Johnny became his biggest fan.

I sat down with this book to just read a chapter and couldn’t put it down. I read the whole thing in one sitting. I’m getting the audiobook next. It’s an amazing story of how a performer struggled and grew in his art. It’s the best analysis I’ve ever read of what it takes to be an original and how hard it can be to get acceptance for that.

I could go on about this book, but you should really just be reading the book. So I’ll end this right here: Go get this book!

I love Steve - will certainly get the book. Thanks for pointing it out.

Steve Martin use to open for rock bands in San Francisco, which was a pretty big gig, but he had long hair and looked like everyone else. Problem was, looking like a wacky guy and being wacky isn't really funny....put on a nice suit and cut your hair and look like a business man and be wacky...that IS funny. His haircut was his salvation!

His book Cruel Shoes is a favorite of mine.

I just received a book called Steve Martin: The Magic Years, by Morris Walker. It's also a bio, with a couple of chapters on his magical years.

I'm almost finished reading Morris Walker's book on Steve Martin. Morris Walker was Steve Martin's best friend from high school, the formative years, before he even started performing. (Imagine your best friend from high school writing about those years. I shiver at the thought!)

The book is a rather rambling narrative. He goes off topic all the time, skipping years, before returning the original point. It's an interesting read when he tells stories that reveal Martin's perceptions about performance, about handling audiences, and such. But I find it interesting because I'm a big fan of Martin. Bottom line is that the book isn't very good. The title 'magic years', you should understand, refers more to the metaphorically magic years of childhood, rather than Martin's years as a magician.